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[p. 120] were bordered with box, and over the driveway waved English elms. A high brick wall surrounded the homestead except directly in front, where there was a low wall surmounted by a wooden fence with panelled gate and posts. The hall, staircase, drawing-room, and guest chamber are elaborately carved; the recessed windows on either side of the fireplaces are especially effective. The panels over the mantels are without seam. The open fireplaces have been bricked up except in the third story; the tiles which surrounded them are scattered, and the leather hangings which adorned the walls have been destroyed. Otherwise the house is much as Colonel Royall left it.

During the siege of Boston the house was the headquarters of the New Hampshire division of the Continental Army. There is no authentic tradition that it was occupied by Washington, although an old record says that prisoners were taken to ‘Washington's Headquarters at Royall's.’ Stark and his staff occupied the house until after the battle of Bunker hill. The riderless horse of Major McClary, of Epsom, N. H., found his way back to the Royall stables, and doubtless his dead master lay in state in one of the parlors until he was carried forth to his unknown grave. There is a tradition that a council of war was held in the summer house on the eve of the battle of Bunker hill. General Lee and General Sullivan later occupied the house, and the former named it ‘Hobgoblin Hall.’ When the property passed into the hands of the government, Col. Richard Cary, of Charlestown, occupied the house for some years.

In the early part of this century the estate was bought by a syndicate, chief among whom were Samuel Dexter, of Roxbury, and Benjamin Hall, of Medford. They sold the mansion-house and gardens to William Welch, who bought for investment. One Thomas Hughes was a tenant until the estate was bought and refitted by Jacob Tidd, Esq., in 1815. His family remained in possession for nearly sixty years.


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